


Excuse Me?

by camichats



Series: Imagine James and Sirius Prompts [194]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Second War with Voldemort, Sirius Black as Padfoot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:21:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28528395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Molly has some opinions on Sirius's parenting skills. Naturally, James disagrees, but it bothers Sirius.
Relationships: Sirius Black/James Potter
Series: Imagine James and Sirius Prompts [194]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/752925
Comments: 12
Kudos: 103





	Excuse Me?

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: “Hey I love your fics so much, they’re amazing! I was wondering if you could do one with a fight between molly weasley and James about the way she treats Sirius (Sirius could have a panic attack or something). Thanks!!”

James stared at her for a long, dumbfounded moment. "What did you just say?" He was aware of Sirius leaving the room, and he made a note to check on him after he was done here. 

"I don't think Sirius is parent material, and you made a mistake trusting him to raise Harry," Molly said, steel in her eyes. 

"You don't _ever_ talk to him like that again." A part of him had to admire her for not backing down from something she clearly believed, but the bigger, more vocal part of him got angry, and it got angry in a hurry. Before, he'd been in a state of disbelief, like he couldn't comprehend what he was hearing. "Sirius is and _was_ a great parent from the moment Harry was born, and even if he wasn't, you have no say in decisions that were made a decade before you ever met Harry. You have _no idea_ what things were like for him, and you could never hope to understand what he's been through. Just because he's not exactly like you doesn't mean that he's a bad parent. It doesn't matter if you think he's the worst parent in the world; it doesn't change the fact that he _is_ Harry's parent, and even if you think he's done a bang up job of it, it's still none of your business so you can keep it to yourself or bugger off." He meant to leave it at that, but then he added, "Even if you were right-- which you're not-- you had no right to say it to his face like that. The next time you have a problem with him and Harry and you feel like you _have_ to say something about it, you wait until it's you and me in private, and I will listen to your _advice_ -" he stressed the word advice because he wasn't about to invite her to complain about Sirius anytime she felt like it "-like we're both adults." Though frankly, he had his doubts about her. All those children and she still acted like this. "Agreed?" 

Her expression didn't soften in the slightest. She had her arms crossed over her chest, and all it made James want to do was kick her out. This was Sirius's place, and she should never talk to her host like that-- reluctant though the host might be to be hosting in the first place. 

James grit his teeth and said, "It's either that, or you can stop visiting Harry at all." 

Her eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't." 

"The hell I wouldn't. You disrespect my family, and there's no reason for me to tolerate you." 

For a moment, it looked like she wasn't going to budge, but then she said, "Fine. Sirius won't hear another word about it from me." 

"Good, but Harry doesn't need to hear about it either. You don't mention it to _either_ of them." 

"Fine," Molly said again, then turned and stalked off to the kitchen. 

James didn't care if she was mad as long as she kept her word. Even if she didn't keep to her word, he'd make sure that it never happened again. Did he want to separate Harry from an adult that he cared about? Of course not, but there were limits to how much rubbish he was willing to put up with. With Molly gone, he went after Sirius. He hadn't said where he was going, but it was a pretty safe bet that he was going to Buckbeak's room; it's where he could always be found when he was sad and James wasn't around. He went straight there, and sure enough, Sirius had transformed into Padfoot and was curled up with the hippogriff. "D'you want to come out?" James asked. He hadn't mastered how to interact with Buckbeak, so he stayed in the doorway and didn't look straight at him. 

Padfoot slowly got his legs under him and slunk over. There was no other word for it-- he slunk. His tail was tucked between his legs, and his head was hung low. If he could drag his paws against the floor and still be moving, he'd be doing it. Personally, James thought he was being a touch overdramatic; it was only Molly Weasley, who he knew that Sirius didn't like very much to begin with. 

Once he was out of the doorway, James closed the door. 

Padfoot splayed his legs out in front of himself and whined pitifully. James scratched behind his ears, which seemed to pick up his mood a little bit. Not nearly enough though. 

"Come on," James said, walking towards their room. Sirius followed reluctantly, but James didn't know why he wasn't happy about it. 

When they got in the room, Padfoot hopped up on the bed and curled up at the end. If that's how he wanted to deal with this, then James wasn't going to try and talk him out of it. Would he prefer that Sirius was comfortable enough around him again to be his human self? Of course, but there was no helping that; he'd been gone for so long that he couldn't begrudge Sirius for how he dealt with stressful situations. 

James sat behind him and pet the fur around his shoulders, running his fingers through the tangles that had formed. "I talked to Molly, and she agreed that she'd stop saying shite like that around you and Harry. Obviously I can't stop her from thinking it, no matter how much I wish I could. But. I figured it's a start." 

Padfoot's big brown eyes turned his way, then away from him again. 

"You know that she was wrong, right? She doesn't know anything about you." 

Sirius turned back into a human, still curled in a tight ball. James rubbed at his shoulders, hoping to get the tension out from them. "She knows enough to say what everyone thinks." 

"Nobody's thinking that rubbish but her. And it _is_ rubbish, you know that right?" 

Sirius snorted. "Is it? I was barely around when Harry was a baby; I _couldn't_ be around when he was a kid, and now I'm trying to make up for it all at once now that he's a teenager. I'm guessing my way through all of this, and I'm not making a good go of it. Even Harry knows that it's true." 

"That's a sodding lie. Harry thinks you're brilliant. When I got back, you were all he could talk about." 

"Sprog's got a lot in common with you." 

"Yeah, he does, and that's why you should believe me when I say that he thinks you're a bloody good parent. Now, are you the best parent in the whole world? Probably not. Like you said, you didn't have the chance to be with him the whole time, and that does change things, but it's not like Molly's so great. The only children she's supportive of are Percy and Ginny-- at least Harry knows that you'll always be there for him." 

"You don't have to make fun of Molly to make me feel better," Sirius said, but that was a lie. He was more amused than he'd been before, even if it was only a little bit. 

"Well, it's the truth. And if she gets to talk shite about you and make you feel better, I can do the same with her to make you feel better. You've been nothing but wonderful to Harry, and that's everything." James leaned over and hugged him. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is from a prompt driven blog @[imaginejamesandsirius](https://imaginejamesandsirius.tumblr.com) on tumblr. Feel free to drop by!


End file.
